JPS6161190B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a magnetic head used in a magnetic recording/reproducing device, and more particularly to a floating magnetic head often used in external storage devices of electronic computers.

In recent years, magnetic disk devices, magnetic drum devices, and the like used as external storage devices for computers have been required to have larger storage capacities, and their recording densities have become higher and higher. High recording density is achieved by improving track density (for example, in the case of disks, the number of tracks per unit length in the radial direction) and bit recording density (the number of bits recorded per unit length in the track running direction). In order to realize this, the key to higher density is specifically how high frequency signals can be input and output using narrow tracks. For these reasons, it is essential for a head transducer to stably read and write signals using a flying slider with a narrow track width at a minute flying height (approximately 0.5 μm). Furthermore, in general, when a head performs a seek operation to access a desired track, such as in a magnetic disk device, in particular, a head that reads a track control signal written on the medium surface during a seek, such as a servo head using a track following method, A stable flying height must be maintained even during the transition period during the seek operation.

The present invention has been made in view of achieving the above object, and provides a head that maintains a stable flying height not only when the head is floating statically, but also during high-speed seek operations. An object of the present invention is to provide a transducer support system.

Generally, in a floating magnetic head, a head transducer including an R/W cap is formed integrally with a floating vessel called a slider, or is fixed to a slider with glass or the like to form a slider assembly. A load proportional to the desired flying height is applied to this slider or slider assembly (hereinafter simply referred to as slider) by a load spring, and at the same time, the slider is fixed and positioned by a gimbal spring. is usually fixed to the head arm. The slider support system consisting of the load spring and gimbal spring is always connected to the head and the medium during head R/W operation, even when external vibrations propagate from the arm or when the medium surface contains undulations or minute protrusions. It is designed so that the gap between them, that is, the flying height, is constant.

That is, the gimbal spring is designed to deform appropriately in response to the rocking motion of the slider, and the resonant frequency of the deformation is set relatively lower than the resonant frequency of the air film in the floating gap. Therefore, changes in the waviness of the medium surface and external vibrations transmitted from the arm are all absorbed by the gimbal spring, and the slider can always maintain the same distance from the medium surface.

However, in an actual floating head, the frequency components of the vibrations applied to the slider through the arm include a wide variety of spectrums from low frequencies to high frequencies, and some of them are due to the direction of slider swing of the air film. It will be very close to the resonant frequency.

In such cases, there is no problem if the amplitude of this vibration is extremely small compared to the flying height, but there are cases where the amplitude is so large that it cannot be ignored, and in conventional heads, this external vibration causes the slider to move. was caused to resonate in the swinging direction, and the change in the flying height of the slider reached an amount that could not be ignored.

Furthermore, gimbal spring vibration was a problem unique to conventional contact-start-stop type heads. Generally contact start
In a stop type magnetic head, when the disk medium starts rotating and stops rotating, an air film is not formed between the slider medium and the slider repeatedly collides with or slides against the medium, which is extremely unstable. Behave naturally. For this reason, in conventional floating heads, abnormal vibrations applied to the slider may cause the gimbal spring to resonate, inducing so-called chatter vibrations, and as a result, collisions between the slider and the disk medium are further amplified, and both caused serious damage.

The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the two drawbacks mentioned above, namely, the resonance of the slider due to external vibrations applied to the head and the chatter vibration of the gimbal spring during contact start and stop. This is achieved by using a composite material made by bonding a polymer material and a metal material together instead of the gimbal spring that was previously made.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the entire gimbal spring and slider, and in this embodiment, the entire gimbal spring is made of a composite material made of metal and polymide bonded together. The polymer material may be attached to both sides or one side of the metal, and does not necessarily need to be attached to the entire gimbal spring. In this example, composite material is used for the entire gimbal spring, so even if the slider vibrates during contact start/stop, the gimbal spring itself has an extremely excellent damping effect, so no chatter vibration occurs and the slider and media will not be damaged. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the portion where the slider is fixed to the gimbal spring, and in the figure, four pawls 4a, 4b, 4c, and 4d of the gimbal spring 3 are press-fitted into grooves 2 formed in the slider 1. In this gimbal spring, 5 is made of metal, and a polymer film 6 is placed on the side that contacts the slider 5.
are pasted together.

The polymer film 6 is interposed between the metal 5 and the slider 1, and high frequency vibrations transmitted to the gimbal spring from the outside are insulated by the polymer film 6 and are not transmitted to the slider 1. It becomes possible to completely eliminate vibrational components that would change the air film between the media.

As mentioned above, a gimbal spring made of a composite material in which a polymer film is bonded to one or both sides of metal is effective for one purpose of the present invention, that is, to prevent chatter vibration, and for the other purpose, That is, a metal-polymer composite material constructed such that a polymer film is interposed at the contact portion of the gimbal spring with the slider is particularly effective in preventing high-frequency rocking vibrations of the slider during floating.

As described above, by using the composite gimbal spring material according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a floating head that has extremely stable vibration characteristics both during contact start and stop and during floating.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a gimbal spring and slider according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a core is press-fitted into the gimbal spring according to the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Slider, 2...Groove formed in the slider, 3...Gimbal spring, 4...Gimbal spring pawl, 5...Metal, 6...Polymer film.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A floating magnetic head characterized in that a slider assembly is fixed to a composite gimbal spring made of a polymeric plastic film bonded to part or all of a metal spring material.